April 30, 2017 - 2 minutes

Technology communities fascinate me. How groups spring up around programming languages or frameworks, and how cultures form within those groups.

Picture the most recent tech meetup or conference you went to. What was it like? What kind of people were there? How did they make you feel?

I was using a particular framework and related language for several years. I liked the technology, but every related event I went to was kind of soul-sucking. Most of the speakers and attendees were very alike. And they were not like me. There was also a strong sense of elitism and aversion to newcomers.

Contrast this with Python groups. Most have a completely different vibe. The community is much more diverse, with friendly and welcoming people.

A community I’ve recently joined is Golang, since I’ve been using it so much at work for creating backend web services and have enjoyed the language. So far the community experience reminds me a lot of Python. This has been a huge factor for me in sticking with Go and transitioning away from the language I previously used.

If you’re new to programming and not sure what what programming languages to get into, in addition to technical considerations, make sure you consider what kind of community you want to join.

And if you’re already in tech, think about which communities you’re a part of, and whether they’re truly healthy ones that you would recommend.